Myrna Kostash, one of Canada’s most renowned writers, is coming to St. Albert for a workshop with Poets’ Ink. And local poet Andy Michaelson believes the hand of destiny played a strange role in her agreeing to come for visit on Saturday, Nov. 6 at St. Albert’s historic Railway Station building.
Founder of the local poetry group Poets’ Ink, Michaelson and his pals have gone beyond just providing in-house writing support to introducing speakers and workshops to the public.
Last year the group hosted two workshops — one with writer Glen Sorestad, Saskatchewan’s first poet laureate and a second with Angela Kluttig who delivered information on how writers can prepare their work for publishing.
Spurred by these two successes, Poets’ Ink decided to run a writer’s workshop emphasizing the importance of research. “I’ve talked long and hard on this, but most people who write don’t do research, yet it’s an essential part of making your work believable.”
Poets’ Ink organizers batted around several names, but Kostash’s kept coming up. “She’s an articulate woman. She knows what she wants to do. She’s probably one of those women that write 100 words a day. We wanted her because she was the best we could get.”
Kostash has all the credentials — an arm-long list of magazine articles and 10 non-fiction books including her 2009 release, The Frog Lake Reader. When not writing, Kostash speaks at festivals, delivers lectures, accepts awards and generally travels across the country.
But one day Michaelson went to Carrot CafĂ©, an arts cafĂ© that relies on volunteer baristas and pitched a reading for Poets’ Ink. He also mentioned trying to get in touch of Kostash. The volunteer barista informed him, “Myrna’s working behind the counter. Why don’t you talk to her?”
They exchanged cards and Kostash is booked to deliver a full-day workshop from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The workshop fee of $50 includes lunch, tea, coffee and a copy of Myrna’s latest book.
Registration is via email at [email protected]. Registration deadline is Friday, Oct. 8.
